Quiet Admiration
by Bay Alexison
Summary: Both Red and Pikachu couldn't sleep, so they decided to visit Daisy late one evening.


**Author's Note:** Timeline in the third gen Kanto games, some references taken from the fourth gen Johto games.

I'm actually killing two birds with one stone for this story. For both livejournal's pokeprompts prompt, "Insomnia" and the pokemon anon meme prompt, "Red-Daisy, quiet admiration."

**Quiet Admiration**

It was late in the evening at Pallet Town. The clouds were moving slowly, but the crescent moon could still be seen in its shining glory. The Hoothoot and Noctowl were wide awake, making hooting noises and keeping a watchful eye for food coming by. No lights came from the homes—at this time of night, everyone was sound asleep. Well, almost everyone.

In Red's bedroom, his Pikachu couldn't get any shuteye. The mouse Pokémon kept tossing and turning on his trainer's bed, making frightened noises. Disturbed by the bed moving like ocean waves, the boy sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Pikachu, are you having bad dreams lately?"

The Pokémon nodded and Red sighed. Pikachu had been having nightmares the past week and the both of them weren't getting much sleep. Sometimes the boy wished he could be able to understand what all of his Pokémon said so that he could help them if they needed it. Because he wasn't sure what kind of dreams Pikachu was having, there was nothing he could do.

"I'm sorry I can't help you with that," the trainer said, lowering his head.

The yellow mouse's ears slumped and he made a sad "pika" noise. Immediately, he jumped on Red's shoulder and rubbed his cheeks against the boy's face an affectionate matter. A slight smile grew on the trainer's face.

"If you're worrying over me not getting any sleep, that's okay. I wasn't able to get sleep for other reasons."

Like the upcoming trip to the Pokémon League in a couple weeks. Three days from now, he would be leaving Pallet Town to go against the Elite Four. He heard they were the toughest trainers in all of Kanto and many people that fought them lost badly.

_Ruthless. No mercy. Taking no nonsense from anybody. _

Red had been training his Pokémon for two months at his hometown, getting prepared. His Pokémon made great progress, but he wasn't sure if they were ready enough to stand a chance against the challenge at hand.

His thoughts then turned back to Pikachu's insomnia. There must be some way to relax his Pokémon to sleep. An idea then hit him and he turned to the electric type with a grin.

"Why don't we give Daisy Oak a visit?"

xxx

Wearing only his pajamas and a coat, Red walked out in the cold night, Pikachu on his shoulder. The breeze bothered the boy somewhat as he clenched his teeth, but the walk was a short one—Daisy Oak's place was only a few houses away. As soon as trainer and Pokémon made it, Red rang the doorbell. To his surprise, the young woman opened it quickly, grinning at Red as if she expected him to visit.

"Red, Pikachu!" Daisy said, chuckling. "Now what are you two doing here this late?"

"Well, Pikachu couldn't sleep the past few days and I was wondering if you could…" he rubbed the back of his forehead and laughed lightly, "give him a massage?"

"Sure, no problem!" she said cheerfully. There was no indication on her face she found it odd to do a massage at half past one in the morning. "You can't seem to get enough of my Pokémon enjoying them, huh?"

Red only chuckled. Sometimes after training, the boy would have Daisy massage or groom his Pokémon to make them more relaxed. It hurt him to see them get stressed out.

He then realized he was asking Daisy to massage his Pokémon very late at night, forgetting she might be sleeping when he thought of visiting her. She seemed like the person to forgive someone for waking her up, though.

Daisy led them inside the living room and sat down on the couch. Pikachu didn't hesitate diving onto the woman's lap. She quickly began her massage, starting with the ears. The Pokémon let out a satisfied "Chuuuuuuu."

While she was doing that, Red couldn't help but look around the pictures in the room. There were many that showcased her back in her coordinator days, winning a lot of ribbons. One was of her as the Kanto Grand Festival Champion. Some of the other pictures were of her with her family, more specifically her grandfather and brother. The rest of the pictures were of her with different Pokémon, all enjoying her company immensely.

_Daisy had a great life before settling down here._

The young lady used to be a successful Pokémon coordinator, but then decided to help with her grandfather's research and give grooms and massages to anyone for free. He saw Daisy began massaging his Pikachu's back as his Pokémon gave a contented sigh of pleasure. She was well known to make even the most ferocious Pokémon feel better after a quick groom. It was as if she was able to communicate the Pokémon without any words, any signals.  
_  
Am I quietly admiring Daisy now?_

This was the first time he realized how much he admired her. Red was known to be well liked by his Pokémon and give them love and care. However, he still felt he lacked something Daisy had as it would take him a bit of time to gain his Pokémon's trust while other Pokémon immediately loved her. He assumed she just had that kind of spark in her.

"Er…sorry for waking you up this late, Daisy. I just thought you'll be able to make Pikachu fall asleep."

"No problem," Daisy responded, smiling. "I actually wasn't sleeping either."

"Wait, really?" the boy asked, blinking.

The young woman nodded. Red saw sadness flicker in her eyes, and then she blinked, and it was gone. "Blue didn't come home to train for the Elite Four. Instead, he's staying at Viridian City and training at that new Trainer House. I just missed him."

That left the trainer speechless. He didn't realize she missed her brother very much. Red thought Blue was a jerk (from his various encounters with him), but he could tell Daisy loved him very much.

"While I was comfortably enjoying my tea breaks, you've grown very skilled and powerful," Daisy suddenly said. "I hope you'll remain a good rival to my little brother."

Red's face turned pale. Never in a thousand years would he hear that from Daisy Oak. Somehow, that made his heart warm inside. He grinned.

"Don't worry, I will."

"I'm sure of that. Also, I know the both of you will do well in the league, so don't worry too much. You just need to trust your Pokémon all the way."

"That's what I plan to do." That was more than enough to motivate Red to give his all in the league.

"Good." She then gazed at Pikachu and giggled. "Oh look, the little guy's sleeping now."

Indeed, Pikachu was sleeping with a smile on his face. The boy couldn't help but beam. Daisy gently picked up the Pokémon and gave him back to Red.

"Thanks for much for doing this!"

Daisy smiled again. "My pleasure. If you want, I can walk you back home before your mom wakes you up."

"Sure, that would be great."

Daisy seized one of Red's hands while the boy held his Pikachu with the other, as they walked outside together.


End file.
